Izydor Gulgowski's cooperation with the Dantzig Kunstverein in 1909. On the roots of neo-Kashubian pottery

Abstract

Pottery and embroidery are extraordinarily important markers of contemporary Kashubian identity. Products of the pottery workshop of the Necel family of Chmielno, which is still ope-rating, as well as embroidery from Wdzydze, have been the topic of many folklore studies and ethnographic analyses. Nevertheless, although the phenomenon and its contemporary continuations are well documented, the factors that shaped Kashubian folk crafts before WW I are still poorly explored. It is not widely known in what circumstances Fryderyk Necel (1868-1935) started making or-namented pottery, where he found inspiration, how much pottery he produced; similarly, his prices and buyers before 1914 are not known. The objective of the article is to reconstruct the actions taken from March to December 1909, which led to the fi rst appearance of Kashubian “folk” pottery on the art market in Danzig (Gdańsk). The discussion is based on previously unexplored archival and press material, espe-cially correspondence between a Pole, Izydor Gulgowski (1874–1925) and a German, Dr Ernst Goeritz (1873–1931) (the State Archive in Gdańsk, fi les no 361/125 and 361/129). Gulgowski was a teacher, a social activist and an organizer of the open-air ethnographic museum in Wdzy-dze near Kościerzyna; he also sat on the board of the Polish-German research association “Verein für kaschubische Volkskunde”. Goeritz was a municipal clerk and head of the Danzig Kunst-verein, an institution that organized art exhibitions. Pointing out the popularity of (neo)Kashubian embroidery, which had been created by his wife several years before, Gulgowski suggested organizing an exhibition of Kashubian art (March 1909). Goeritz liked the idea and invited some of his acquaintances to cooperate. The initiators decided that it would be most interesting to present pottery but no items could be found so they asked Fryderyk Necel (Fritz Nötzel) to prepare Kashubian-style exhibits. Ornaments were designed by a Danzig painter, Bertold Hellingrath, on the basis of Gulgowski’s collection, while technological issues were taken care of by Dr Hermann Phleps from the Technische Hochschule, an expert on folk art. Necel exe-cuted this commission superbly and in December 1909 his pottery sold extremely well at the Christmas Fair. The range of items and their prices are known; the initiative was commented on by local German-language newspapers. The works of the pottery master from Chmielno, who quickly became independent and gained renown, were eagerly bought by German enthu-siasts of folklore as well as by Poles who holidayed in Sopot (Zoppot) before WWII. The village craftsman quickly turned into a successful folk artist; his pottery fi gured in many, not only local, exhibitions, becoming a trademark of the Kashubian movement on a par with embroidery. The true origin of his pottery and its design were soon blurred by imprecise relations and then forgotten for good as a result of the resurrection of an independent Poland embracing Pomerania and Kashubia after WWI.